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Thursday 12 February 2009

In Praise of the Tom Wright Sound-Bite

Bishops have a reputation for being delightful, but sometimes perhaps a little dull - one might have the picture of the episcopal gentleman of Synod settling with gravitas (and the aid of a good lunch) into their chairs ready for the afternoon session. Dull, however, is not an adjective that one could apply to Tom Wright. He is an academic theologian of renown, and of course Bishop of Durham. He is also a master of the synodical sound-bite. Here are some gems from today:

"How do we tell which differences make a difference?"

"Lay Presidency in Sydney and Gay Presidency in New Hampshire"

"The very rich are doing for the very rich what they are not doing for the very poor"

"We need an economy that puts the needs of the poor first. We need Jeremiah-type repentence."


Justin
(GS 373)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's a pretty stupid (old-fashioned tabloid headline?) soundbite about "gay presidency in New Hampshire." More importantly, the C of E has long had "gay presidency" all over the place, and people like Tom Wright are merely in denial about it.

Justin Brett said...

Fr. Mark,

Perhaps a victory of style over substance? Actually, those first two little gems were very close to each other - he was actually using the Sydney/New Hampshire example to illustrate what differences might or might not make a difference. In my case - and, from your reaction to the above and your screen name, I suspect your case too - I would say that the first is a major issue and the second should hardly be an issue at all. Unfortunately, there are plenty around who would argue the opposite, and no doubt as many who would start sharpening the pitchforks on account of both.

Then of course there's the rest of the population who couldn't care a bit about either...